Archive for August, 2008
Multi-touch Graphic Design
Justin Lemaire
If you are interested in graphic design, then following the news in the graphic design field is definitely something you should do as I already illustrated in one of the previous posts on this blog.
Well, the news piece of the day is an interesting one and it concerns a technology known as Multitouch. If you have an Apple iPhone, you are already familiar with Multitouch technology. It is the type of technology that futuristic movies thrive upon and it is here today from both Apple and Windows.
In fact, Windows 7 (the next release of the Windows system which is expected out sometime close to the end of the decade) is supposed to have Multitouch functionality in it and if you combine that with a Multitouch interface you should be able to use the touch screen functionality on your home computer.
What does this mean for graphic designers? It means that you can create graphic designs with your fingers rather than with a mouse click or a pen and that is something that could come in very handy in a number of different circumstances with different graphic designs. Graphic design software could change completely with this new technology and a number of different web design graphics could get bigger and better with this type of direct control.
More in Windows 7 can be found here.
Technorati Tags: apple_iphone, graphic_design_software, graphic_design_field, screen_functionality, web_design_graphics, graphic_designers, graphic_designs, iphone, mouse_click, windows_system, home_computer, touch_screen, new_technology, interface, blog
Can you Start a Graphics Design Business for Free?
Justin Lemaire
I get a lot of questions from people about graphic design and one question that I hear a lot has to do with the money it takes to start up a graphic design business. Whether you are doing web design graphics, setting out to design your own graphics for a big company or just coming up with graphic design templates that others can use, there are definitely cash flow concerns that you have to worry about.
However, the main thing to realize is that these cash flow concerns will really only become a problem for you if your business takes off and gets to the point where it is really something viable that you can use to make a living.. In other words, cash flow concerns are a long term problem.
In the short term, it is definitely possible to start graphic design businesses for free. All you need to do is get yourself some free hosting for a graphic design company website as well as a free graphic design program that you can use to do all of your own editing. When money comes in you can then reinvest that money back into the business to get Photoshop and a real domain name, but those are not things that you need right off the bat.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_business, graphic_design_program, web_design_graphics, free_graphic_design, graphic_design_company, design_businesses, own_graphics, design_templates, cash_flow, domain_name, money
Photoshop Photo Preparation, Part 5
Justin Lemaire
In Photoshop, there are two aspects to fixing an image and making it ready for further editing. The first was covered in the previous post and the second is covered below.
A large portion of the final viewing of an image has to do with colour. The specific colours of an image combined with the manner in which those colours interact says a lot about the average image and this is precisely why you need to make sure the colours are correct in your picture as part of the actual editing procedure.
Photoshop allows you to change the hue and saturation of the different colours in the image directly while at the same time allowing you to mix and match different colours together in the edits that you make. Filtering, gradients, highlights and shadow effects are all possible as is the ability for you to change the actual exposure on the picture to compensate for a picture taken in an overexposed or underexposed position.
You can tweak these different characteristics in editing to make up for any mistakes that happened when the picture was first taken. As far as Photoshop Photo Preparation is concerned however, experimentation is always the best way to ascertain what your image might be missing. While you might think you know exactly what needs to be done, playing around with the software might lead you to possibilities you had never considered before.
Technorati Tags: photo_preparation, shadow_effects, overexposed, gradients, large_portion, hue, saturation, colours
Photoshop Photo Preparation, Part 4
Justin Lemaire
Once you have the basics of layer mechanics down, it is now time to correct the basics of the image that did not turn out the way you expected. Photoshop is a powerful piece of image editing software that allows you to go a long way towards making the mistakes in your picture vanish completely.
You should take a look at your picture and consider what is wrong with it. The things that you want to fix might have to do with colours, balance between colours, contrast within the image or any other adjustments that can conceivably be made within Photoshop. There are many adjustments that you can make to the image, so it is a good idea to look through the whole list in order to see what is available.
Remember that with a piece of software as powerful as Photoshop backing you up, only your understanding of what is or is not possible is holding you back. The software likely has the ability to do things that you don’t think are possible presently, so feel free to experiment with the different settings whenever you get the opportunity. Experimentation within graphic design can produce great things and already has on many different occasions.
Technorati Tags: image_editing_software, mechanics, graphic_design, occasions
Graphic Design Goes International
Justin Lemaire
If you are truly interested in expanding your horizons as far as they can go in the field of graphic design, one thing you must do is constantly keep your eye on the ball as far as news in the field of graphic design is concerned. This is important whether you want to design your own graphics for money or if you would simply like to be come good with graphic design software for some other purpose.
Any of the online news conglomerate websites are good starting points for you to get information and news on the world of graphic design. For example, a recent news piece shows us that Iran will be attending this year’s Golden Bee Moscow International Biennial of Graphic Design.
Why is this important? It is important because Iran is a country with a rich cultural heritage going back thousands of years and that heritage has a unique set of imagery to draw upon. Graphic design is the online version of art and the saying is that art imitates life. There are many different excellent graphic designs in use around the world today that found their initial inspiration in aspects of a particular culture.
The entry of the Iranian delegation into the graphic design field at the Moscow conference will inject new cultural inspiration into the graphic design field. And you never know; you just might find something to spark your own interest if you keep your eyes on the conference as it unfolds. Inspiration has reached artists all over the world from stranger sources.
Technorati Tags: graphic_design_software, expanding_your_horizons, own_graphics, conglomerate, money
Photoshop Photo Preparation, Part 3
Justin Lemaire
Now that you have a brand new Photoshop document that is ready to be manipulated to whatever end you have in mind, it is time to start using one of the basic yet powerful concepts included in Photoshop. This is the layer function and if used correctly it is one of the most powerful editing tools you have at your disposal.
When you originally created the Photoshop document, all of the information in the picture was saved into a layer called the background layer. If you duplicate this layer, you will ensure that you have a backup of the original image within the Photoshop document, allowing you to revert back to that backup image if you don’t like the changes you make.
Additionally, you should create a new layer for each additional step that you take in terms of editing the image. This will ensure that there is only one major change to the image per layer, something that could come in very handy if you want to remove or suppress one of your edits in a later editing session. If there is one major edit per layer, you don’t even need to actually remove the layer to make the change. You just need to suppress the visualization of that layer and it will not appear in the final picture that you save based on the current editing session.
Technorati Tags: photoshop_document, backup_image, background_layer, editing_tools, visualization
Photoshop Photo Preparation, Part 2
Justin Lemaire
The first step for any image is to successfully get that image into a Photoshop session and then convert it to a file format that you can more easily manipulate using the tools within Photoshop.
The first part of that equation should be relatively easy. Simply select the open option from the file menu in Photoshop and then browse around your hard drive or other storage drive until you find the file that you are looking for. Many people that edit multiple images on a daily basis find it more convenient to include all of the images in one place so that they are easier to find, but this is ultimately a matter of personal preference.
Once you have the image in Photoshop, you will want to use the save as function to convert the picture from the image format it is in right now (most likely a JPEG) to an image format that is more compatible with the powerful tools of Photoshop. This is the Photoshop document image and doing this conversation will not remove the JPEG, but rather give you a wholly different file that you can edit as much as you like without actually affecting the original picture that was taken.
Technorati Tags: photoshop_document, storage_drive, personal_preference, open_option, multiple_images, document_image, image_format, powerful_tools, file_format, hard_drive
Photoshop Photo Preparation, Part 1
Justin Lemaire
The alliterative title aside, this is a very serious topic that you should pay the utmost attention to, both when you read these posts and apply the knowledge in your own Photoshop sessions.
The main idea behind Photoshop photo preparation is the fact that the while a picture might look good once you take it, the simple fact of the matter is that there is no photograph that is perfect. There are going to be problems because of the lighting, how you held the camera or anything else that can conceivably affect the final product. While you can start editing these photos right away in Photoshop, it would be better for your finished product if you cleaned them up first using Photoshop’s powerful array of tools.
These steps include a number of things such as opening a file in Photoshop, converting it to an appropriate format and then editing different aspects of it to make it an ideal starting point for further editing. Take note of these steps and then decide for yourself if you want to use them on the images that you import. In most cases, you will likely decide that doing these steps will make your image better.
Technorati Tags: photo_preparation, ideal_starting_point, finished_product, photograph, array, lighting, sessions, images, photos
Photo Editing Tips: Filters and Blends
Justin Lemaire
Of all of the different ways that exist in Photoshop to change the general parameters of the picture while leaving it largely intact, filtering and blending allow now only for the greatest amount of freedom, but also the greatest amount of experimentation. You can grab your favourite picture and experiment for hours with these two tools just to see what you’d get.
When you filter an image, you take the image and put it through a filter of a particular colour. That colour then has an effect on the product that you get (it is somewhat similar to using different colours for the construction of the glass around a light bulb filament). When you blend an image, you mix the different colours within the image together, creating a blurry effect in different areas of the image. This can help with false focus (discussed in the previous post) as well as with other elements of design.
Overall, filters and blends are easy to use and can have powerful final effects when they have been applied. This makes them a favourite of many graphic designers. The next time you open Photoshop, feel free to experiment with filtering and blending different images so that you can see how powerful these techniques really are.
Technorati Tags: light_bulb_filament, elements_of_design, graphic_designers, colours, blends, freedom, images
Photo Editing Tips: False Focus
Justin Lemaire
The grid of thirds aside, there are many different ways of creating focus within a picture that are far more direct. With the power of a program like Adobe Photoshop behind you, there are many different ways of creating focus that take a small amount of time and return a very impressive effect.
One such method of false focus has to do with using the blur tool within Photoshop. Using this tool, you can actually blur the background around the main focus of your picture. Since the background is blurry and only the dominant object in the picture is actually in focus, there is a sort of false focus created around that object that draws the eye right to it.
Another way to do this is to emphasize through the use of colour. In Photoshop this is very easy to do. All you have to do is simply convert part of your image to monochromatic ranges, leaving the dominant objects within the image in full colour. This also creates false focus and when combined with a blurred background and a cropped image can quite literally force the viewer’s eye to focus in on the specific object that you want them to see.
Adobe Photoshop Tutorial - Create A Soft Focus Effect - Celebrity bloopers here
Technorati Tags: many_different_ways, impressive_effect, adobe_photoshop, blur, amount_of_time
